The boss and the beast
by Jaaannn
Summary: During her absence, Hermione's assistent had to hire a new employer. This happens to be someone very capable of the job, but will he and his boss get along?
1. Chapter 1

A/N This is my first attempt to a story, so be gentle, please!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Monday 15 april 2002, 08.00

''Good to see you walking around the halls again, miss Granger.'' was the first thing Hermione heard that morning. She nodded at the employer and walked to the elevators. After spending the last eight weeks in Europe to find more information about a certain herb, she was happy to be back home, too.

After the war, Hermione decided to start working at the ministry, despite the fact that it held quite a few bad memories. Harry and Ron, of course, decided to start their careers as Aurors and even though Harry finished it as the best of their year, Ron stopped in the sixth week. His reason was that he was too young and not ready for the grown up life. Of course, both Hermione and Harry knew that was not the real reason.

Ron was the only one of them who refused to talk with a therapist after the war. Though Harry hadn't enjoyed going, either, he knew it was best for him to talk about all he and his friends went through with someone who hadn't been there with them. Hermione had needed more time to get over it, as the whole thing had affected her more, but she, too, found closure and was more than ready to start a new life without foul, prejudiced, nose-less weirdo's to conquer.

''_Ron, you can't go. I need you,'' Hermione begged. Three months after their kiss in the chamber of secrets, Hermione knew their relationship would never work out, but that didn't mean she didn't need her best friend with her when she was going through it all over again. _

''_I'm sorry 'Mione, but I have to go. You don't love me, Harry has only eyes for Ginny and my family is a mess. My brother died, Hermione, Fred is dead. I can't face it all alone.'' _

_That was just it. He had been saying that he was alone many times, and even though she'd tried, she couldn't get it to him that he had her, Harry and his family to talk with. _

''_Ron, look at me. You're not alone. You have me. You have Harry. You have a complete family that's going through the same thing as you. Please, stay here. Don't leave. We need you and we want to help you.'' _

_But he'd left, without telling them where he'd gone and they hadn't heard from him since. The only reason they knew where he was was because of the numerous pictures in the magazines. There had been a lot of different women, a lot of different countries and a lot of different drunk faces. It had hurt at first, but after a while she realized she didn't care anymore. He had left her twice, and she wasn't going to cry over someone who wasn't there when she needed him the hardest. _

''Hermione, you're back!'' Hermione smiled and took the cup of coffee Laurie held out for her. ''Yes, and I'm very happy to be. Has anything special happened during my absence?''

Taking a sip of her coffee, Hermione grimaced. No sugar. ''Yes. Remember mister Noive, from across the hall? He had an accident,'' Laurie started. ''Nothing bad,'' she said when she saw Hermione's face turned concerned, ''but he won't be able to get back to work for at least a year. Apparently he has to learn how to live with 6 ears, now.'' Laurie frowned.

Hermione smiled at her assistant's choice of words. _Poor mister Noive_. ''Have we sent him flowers? Or bonbons? I know how much he likes Sugarplum's Whirling Wandchocolates.'' ''Yes, we did. I also sent him that request from Nora Spruit, for the anti-baldness potion,'' Laurie made a face before continuing, ''I figured we couldn't let him get bored to death.'' Hermione set her coffee on the table and sat down at her desk. Rummaging through her papers, she asked Laurie to continue, ''anything else?''  
''Well, since, erm, you see, now that mister Noive can't work for a while, we erm.. we had to hire someone else.'' Laurie stuttered. ''Why, of course! That's not something you have to be apprehensive about, right? Of course I wished I would've been there when you were hiring but for sure, you hired someone capable.'' Hermione replied. She knew Laurie for 2 years now, and if Laurie was anything, she was a very good assistent. ''Who did you hire?'' She asked. ''Well, eh, if I said Ron Weasley, would you be more mad than if I said Draco Malfoy?'' Hermione looked at her funny before getting lost in a full on rant, ''What do you mean? Ronald applied for a job here? Are you kidding me? How did he even get such a crazy idea in his mind I-'' Laurie looked at her boss rambling away before holding up her hand and holding it over Hermione's mouth. ''Ronald Weasly did not apply, but Draco Malfoy did,'' she calmly said, only to end the sentence with a _very_ fast ''and we hired him.''


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Rowling owns it all  
**

**Saturday morning **

''You're going on a _what_ with Draco Malfoy tonight?'' Ginny sat across from Hermione on the couch at the burrow. ''I'm not going on an anything tonight. We're just going to grab dinner as colleagues. And maybe friends. Nothing special,'' Hermione explained with a knowing look. ''Pity. I bet a date with Slytherin's sex god would be something else,'' Ginny said with a mischievous smile. ''Ginevra Potter! Don't talk about him like that he's my colleague and I have to work with him so please, don't plant any images in my mind.''

''As if you haven't thought about it yet.'' Hermione blushed and Ginny squealed. ''See, I know you too good Hermione Jean Granger. You can't hide it from me, you think Draco Malfoy is attractive.'' Hermione shot her an angry glance. ''I most certainly do not think Draco Malfoy is attractive.'' ''Yeah,'' Ginny said with a scoff, ''you just keep telling yourself that and I will talk to you again after you've kissed him.''

**Saturday evening, around 7**

Hermione walked into _La Rivière__Blanche,_ the new Wizard restaurant in Diagon Alley where she and Draco had agreed to meet. The restaurant had only opened three weeks ago, and the place was booked for at least 3 months. How Draco got a reservation here, she didn't know. Though she supposed that being a Malfoy still held some status, even after the war.

''Miss Granger, I presume?'' Hermione turned around to face the waiter who was talking to her. ''Yes, that's me.'' Hermione smiled. ''Could I take your coat before bringing you to your table?' Hermione nodded and let the waiter take her coat. She followed him to a beautiful area. The restaurant was located at the end of Diagon Alley, causing it to be close to a cave. The decorators had made good use of that, and now part of the restaurant was located in the cave, giving it an old yet luxurious atmosphere. She saw Draco sitting at the bar and walked up to him.

Draco Malfoy was a changed man.. It was in his sixth year that he started to doubt the whole idea of blood supremacy. Granger had proved him wrong since first year, though. Every summer he came home calling her names. Hermione Granger, the muggleborn witch who beat him in every class. Potter's golden girl. Gryffindor's princess.

When Voldemort gave him the task of killing Albus Dumbledore, he knew it wasn't about blood for the bloke that called himself a Lord. It was about power and fear. Fear for, as Dumbledore had sad so many times, love. Feelings in general, actually. The man was nothing, an empty shell with no nose.

So when he got the change to pay society by helping both financially and with his own hands, he welcomed it. He worked hard, harder than anyone who changed sides, to prove that he had changed. He wanted people to view him different. He searched for forgiveness and approval. When they gave him the job at the Ministry he didn't wait for a second and took it without a second's hesitation.

He wanted to prove Hermione he had changed, he wanted to prove her more than all of them. Hermione, for him, was everything good. Loyal, forgiving, brave, smart. He felt that if he could get her to trust him, forgive him, the rest didn't matter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: It's all Rowling's.**

**Saturday evening, during dinner.**

Draco Malfoy turned out to be the perfect conversation partner. They had talked about almost everything. Her time in Europe, their work, his dreams to start his own potion-lab. There hadn't been any awkward silences, much too Hermione's delight. They now found themselves on the topic of house-elves, a cause Hermione had strong feelings about. She was just in the middle of convincing Draco that House elves shouldn't walk around in old pillow cases when they heard an angry shout, coming from outside.

''What the-'' Draco couldn't finish his sentence before someone grabbed his arm and tried to drag him outside. ''RON!'' Hermione screamed in horror. Draco still sat at his chair, looking up at Ron.

''Might I ask you what it is you think you're doing, Weasley?'' He calmly asked. ''What's it look like, ferret boy? I'm going to get you away from Hermione,'' Ron said, his face red with anger.

Draco merely smirked. ''Well, seeing as I'm still sitting here, you're not doing a very good job. If you would let me go now, I'd appreciate it.'' The last words were spoken with a warning tone.

Finally, Ron gave up and let Malfoy go. ''Hermione, what do you think you're doing here? With ferretboy of all creatures?'' He asked her, pointing at Malfoy. Hermione stood up from her chair and walked up to Ron.

''Ronald Billius Weasley,'' she started with a sharp voice, ''what on earth are you doing? You've been away for come around 4 years and suddenly you barge in here, rudely interrupting a perfectly pleasant dinner between colleagues, with NO reason whatsoever?''

''Are you kidding me, 'Mione?! You're here with Malfoy,'' he spat. ''You know who that is, right? Oh no wait- given that you're sitting here with him I'll remind you. He's a death-eater. He is responsible for Dumbledore's death. HIS AUNT TORTURED YOU!''

Hermione was livid. How dare Ronald show up here, after being off the radar for quite some time, out of the blue, only to yell at her and Draco for things that happened in the past.

Draco, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered by it at all. He was, unfortunately, used to it. Every now and then people would come up to him and tell him he still was the monster he had been in the past. Those people were mostly people like Ron. They hadn't been around him enough to see how much he had changed. And if they had, they chose to ignore it, just to have someone they could blame for all the pain they had all felt.

''Weasley, I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here. Are you trying to get me out of the restaurant so that you can beat me up at the street? I don't think that's going to be pretty for you. Are you going to hex me? Last time you tried that, you ended up with slugs coming out of your mouth for two days. So please, leave me and my date alone and go scream somewhere else, you're bothering not only us, but the entire restaurant.''

Ron looked around him, noticing the stares from other visitors. He looked at Hermione, who gave him an angry stare. Then he turned around and stomped out of the restaurant. Draco and Hermione silently finished their dinner and after Draco paid he walked her out, into Diagon Alley.

''I am so sorry that happened I-'' Hermione started before Draco cut her off. ''Don't worry about it, you couldn't know Weaselbee would come here, pulling whatever stunt that was? If someone has to be sorry it's me, for all the things I did in the past. Even though he was rude, Weasley is right. I did horrible, terrible things. Not stopping my aunt from torturing you being my biggest regret.''

Hermione looked at Draco and saw the sincerity in his eyes. She took a deep breath. ''I never blamed you for what happened. You were just a boy. We were all kids. Those who were on the light side were lucky to know what was wrong and what was right. You, and all the others on the dark side, were forced to do what was asked of them, because of your families. I never blamed you for that time in the drawing room. After the war- everybody was a mess. We survived, but parts of us were dead. Our friends died, some of us had killed people. We weren't even twenty years old and we killed people.''

Tears silently rolled down her cheeks as all the emotion came back. When she looked around she noticed she and Draco left Diagon Alley and were now headed to Hyde Park. She looked around and found a bench. Sitting down, she continued talking.

''We talked with our friends and people who changed sides. We realized then that the only one to blame was Voldemort. He did so much harm. You can't blame teenagers for a war. You can't blame a son for wanting to protect his parents. I forgave you for that time in the Astronomy tower because I knew you couldn't do it. Harry was there, that night. He told me about how you couldn't kill Dumbledore. That's when I realized that you might have been a bully, but you weren't evil. You were just protecting the ones you loved,'' she finished.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: okay so this is a long chapter (for me, at least) and I kind of like it I guess but I'm not too sure. Please let me know if you like it because I have no idea where I'm going with this story. **

**Disclaimer: Rowling is the queen**

The next few weeks went pretty much the same. Draco and Hermione got accustomed to each other, found their rhythm of working together and became friends.

After three weeks though, Draco realized he felt more for her than just friendship. Her kindness, wit and the fact that she managed to tame that bush on her head she called hair, made his heart beat just that bit faster every time he'd see her walk into the office.

He loved that she had tons of photo's on her desk. Photos of her, Harry and Ginny in the park, photo's her parents at her graduation at Hogwarts, photos of her and her old classmates- all in Gryffindor attire and photos of her and James chasing each other at what seems to be the backyard of the Burrow.

He liked how she would first smell her coffee before taking a sip, he loved how she would chew her lip when she was concentrating really hard, he loved how her hair would get bigger as 5 o'clock neared.

He also knew he could never act on his feelings. First off, she was his colleague.

Second, he was incredibly grateful that she had befriended him and wasn't going to fuck that up. Lastly, nobody would approve. She had said she and her friends had forgiven him, but that didn't mean they would approve of them dating. If they ever started dating. Given that he had no idea if Granger fell something for him besides friendship at all.

Hermione would wake up in the morning, excited to go to the office. The minute she realized that she was excited to work, she also realized what the reason of her excitement was. Draco Malfoy.

How that man was the reason she got up in the morning without seriously harming her alarm, she didn't know. His annoying ability to outsmart her with his comments and his shiny hair that fell down his eyes- _oh, his eyes. Deep, dangerous pools of grey in which she just wanted to drown_- when he bowed his head to read his notes somehow made her insides do a happy dance when she woke up.

She knew it wasn't all that handy to have a crush on your co-worker, but she couldn't help it. She liked it that when he walked into the office in the morning, the first thing he would do was ask her if she already had coffee, and if she already head, he would say; ''right, be right back.'' before getting a cup for himself.

If she didn´t have coffee yet, he would always ask ''Two sugars and cream?'' And when she nodded he would smirk and walk away to fetch her a cup.

She noticed that he would mostly drink his coffee black, but if they had a busy day ahead of them, he took two sugars. He had two coats, a black one and a grey one. If it was a cold day, he would wear the black one. If it was sunny or warm, he would wear grey.

She saw how he could get completely lost in his work, and when she'd ask him something he would look up, confused, before realizing where he was.

She liked how their conversations just happened without them actually having to try. If it was an uneventful day, they could sit at their desk and talk all day. He made her laugh with his sarcasm, she made him scowl when it turned out she was right and he was wrong- which happened on a daily basis.

**Tuesday, May 14****th**** 11 o'clock **

''I think you should do it.''

''Are you kidding me Granger? I haven't even worked her for two months yet.''

Hermione and Draco were debating whether or not he should go to Europe this time, to retrieve the last ingredient for their potion. Hermione knew, however, that he could do it. He didn't only have a talent for potion-making, but had also learned so much in the past few weeks, that she trusted he could do the job without screwing it up.

Her crush at Draco hadn't disappeared, as she'd hoped, and she was getting sick of it. Especially because the man was unreadable. She still hadn't the foggiest idea if he liked her more than just friends and it was driving her mad.

''Granger? Is your pretty head even listening to what I'm saying or are your thoughts with some other bloke I don't know about?''

That was the thing, though. Recently, Draco started to- dare she say it_- flirt_ with her. He would call her pretty. He would give her winks when he left the office before she did. He'd touch her arm or hand when he wanted her attention. He was damn well driving her mad.

Draco, on the other hand, realized that Granger might like him too. A few days back, he decided to check how she felt about him by starting to make more flirty comments, touch her arm when he wanted her attention and smiling more at her. It seemed to work. She'd blush every time he touched her, didn't know what to say when he was flirting with her and when he smiled she smiled back, her whole face lighting up.

He knew for sure now, that his crush started to grow into something more. He actually, genuinely liked her. He wanted to be with her more and more each day- and they hadn't even kissed yet. He wondered if he could kiss her when his eyes wandered to her lips. Slightly parted, pink and extremely kissable. He wondered what they'd taste like.

Hermione kept talking, though Draco was too lost in his thoughts- he didn't hear her.

''Well, I still think you should do it. You're talented enough and- are you even listening to me?''

When Draco still didn't respond, Hermione huffed, got up from her chair and walked up to him.

''Draco!''

When Draco looked down, he saw Hermione standing close to him. He saw her lips moving but didn't hear what she was saying.

Before he knew what he was doing, he lifted his hand and cupped her cheek. Stroking his thumb over her chin, he looked into her eyes, leaned in, and kissed her.

Surprised, Hermione's eyes flew open. She saw Draco's closed eyes, saw his blond locks falling down his forehead and before her brain recognized what her body was doing, she locked her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

Draco placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer. He could feel her body pressed against his, her arms around his neck, her hair tickling his neck. Breaking away from her lips, he lifted her up on his desk before claiming her mouth again. He tangled his hands in her hair- who would have thought it'd be so soft- and softly bit her lip. He heard Hermione sigh and licked her lower lip, his tongue asking for permission. Not hesitating, Hermione let him in and their tongues started to dance together. Fighting for dominance, their tongues battled, their hands grasping at each other. Hermione had locked her legs around Draco's waist in the process, doing everything to get him closer.

Finally, they broke apart. Panting and blushing, Hermione looked everywhere but at Draco. Finally, she looked up and saw him staring at her. Blushing harder, she hopped off the desk and walked out of the office, into the hallway.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer; If it were mine, I wouldn't be writing Dramione fanfiction in the first place.**

**Tuesday, May 14****th**

Draco sighed and dragged a hand over his face. He was such an idiot. _''I'm going to take it slow.'' ''I don't know how she feels about me. I can't just kiss her,'' _he mocked himself.

He had thought it all and what did he do? Practically force himself on the poor girl, forgetting about is resolutions the minute his lips grazed hers. Sighing once more, he walked over to his desk and sat down. The least he could do now was just.. go on with his work and make sure that he finished the list of ingredients for the children's version of Pepper Up Potion. Not even two minutes later, he heard footsteps in the hallway he knew all too well and he didn't have to wait long for his suspicions to be confirmed.

''Mate, what have you done? Granger is walking through the hallway with a very un-Granger like look on her face and when I asked her where you were she yelped and ran into the bathroom.''

Draco groaned. Of course Blaise would decide today was a good day to come pay him a visit. And of course he ran into Granger.

Blaise Zabini and Draco had managed to stay good friends after the war. Of course, growing up together, going to Hogwarts together and being forced to take the Dark Mark together formed some sort of bond. He and Blaise were the only two of their group of friends who had to take the Mark, and because there was no-one else who had to sit through Voldemort's meetings, they sought out each other.

Blaise had lived in France with his mother for a few years after the War, in their villa near Florence. Draco had visited a few times, but missed London too much to accept Blaise's offer to stay permanently. Besides, his pale skin would never get used to the sun, and using at least one bottle of sun block per week was just ridiculous.

The dark-skinned Slytherin had come back a few weeks ago, trading his villa in sunny France for a penthouse in the London rain. His building stood in Muggle London, not far from Draco's house. They'd catch up at least once a week, as they both didn't have many friends. Blaise did have, however, a whole wattle of single women who were delighted that he'd come back to England. Blaise liked the attention, but decided to take it a bit easier now that he was back.

First thing was looking for a job. Thanks to his mother, and her numerous husbands, he was filthy rich- but he knew he'd get bored out of his mind without a job. He'd just had an interview with the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and decided to stop by Draco's office to see if he had time to grab lunch.

When he ran into Granger though, he knew something must've happened, as he knew Draco liked the Gryffindor. He was surprised at first, Granger was a Muggleborn, and though he and Draco didn't believe in blood supremacy anymore, Draco having feelings for Granger still was a bit of a shock.

''Sod off, Zabini,'' Draco groaned. Blaise smirked to himself, so Draco _did_ have to do something with it. Sitting down at Granger's chair, he asked Draco. ''What did you do? Did you kiss her?'' Looking at Draco's face, Blaise got his answers. The blond went from angry to confused to regret, all within the span of a few seconds.

Blaise knew Draco must be bothered, because the man had mastered the art of not showing emotions. ''What did she do?'' He asked then. ''Kissed me back,'' Draco flatly replied. Blaise thought about this, ''that's a good thing, right?'' Draco looked at him funny. ''It would be, if she didn't ran out of the office the minute I let her go.''

=====

_She was such an idiot_. What was she even thinking? Kissing Draco in her office? What if somebody had walked in? What if someone had seen them? Hermione sighed and dragged a hand through her hair. Looking in the mirror, she took in her swollen lips, her messy curls and her flushed cheeks. God, she could as well wear a card that said _'I just made out with Draco Malfoy in my_ _office'_ and the message wouldn't be any clearer.

Sighing once more, she splattered some water on her face, took a deep breath, looked into the mirror and said, ''Don't be a coward Hermione. You have to go back to your office, face Malfoy and talk about it.'' She then summoned all her Gryffindor courage and walked back to their office.

When she was just a few meters away from the door, she heard voices. One she recognized as Draco's, and the other, if she was not mistaken, as Blaise's. Great.

She and Blaise had never been friends, but he had never called her degrading names, either. She always suspected Blaise took the Mark, just like Draco had, when they were still in school. Once more gathering her courage, she walked in.

Blaise looked up and saw Hermione walking in. She blushed less than she did when he ran into her fifteen minutes ago, but her lips were still slightly swollen and her hair looked like it had a life of its own. ''Granger,'' he smirked, ''good to see working with Draco hasn't made you lose your mind.'' Hermione looked like she wanted to run right back to where she came from, but Draco saw her willing herself to keep calm and face Blaise. ''Hello, Blaise,'' she calmly said, ''could I sit in my own chair, please?'' Draco laughed internally, watching as Blaise stood up from the chair and made a gesture for Hermione to sit.

''Well, as_ pleasurable_ as this was,'' Blaise smirked, ''I ought to get going. Malfoy, see you tonight over drinks?'' Draco nodded. ''See you at seven.''

Blaise turned to Granger and gave her a wink before walking out of the office, the sound of his footsteps fading while the two colleagues pretended to look for something on their desk. Draco was the first to speak. ''Look, Granger, I'm sorry for-'' Hermione didn't even let him finish, but interrupted him with a disappointed look. ''You're sorry? So you regret it?'' Draco looked up to find her still behind her desk, her hands holding a stack of parchment, her eyes focused on him.

''No, no, that's not what I meant I-'' He couldn't even finish his sentence as Hermione interrupted him once again. ''Well what _do_ you mean then because to me it seemed like you wanted to kiss me and I kissed you back but I don't know how you feel and if you don't feel anything towards me except for friendship I would like you to tell me right now because if you don't I just greatly embarrassed myself and I don't even know what to say when I ran into Blaise I mean what would he have thought I can't imagine-''

Draco looked at the girl in front of him rambling away before walking over to his desk and putting his hand over her mouth, effectively shutting her up.

''I don't regret it, okay?'' Hermione nodded, his hand still over her mouth. ''I have wanted to kiss you for weeks now, but I didn't know how you felt about me. I didn't mean to kiss you today, but it just happened. I am not sorry for that it happened, but I _am_ sorry for being blunt and kissing you without your permission. I don't regret it. I liked it.''

With that, he slowly pulled his hand back. Hermione was still looking at him, surprised and her mouth slightly open. Slowly, she stood up and walked till she was right in front of him, their noses almost touching.

She lifted her head and kissed him sweetly on the lips. ''I don't regret it, either.''

**A/N; Sooo? Tell me what your opinion is! :) **


End file.
